Ann Romney was impressive and civil toward Rosen and began shifting the conversation to her husband's policies on women, which Democrats have been lambasting for the past few weeks in a so-called "War on Women."

Some of the key quotes from Ann Romney's appearance on Fox:

• On her gut reaction to the initial comments: "She should have come to my house when those five boys were causing so much trouble. It wasn't so easy."

• On her career choice as a mother: "My career choice was to be a mother."

• On what concerns she hears from women: "Guess what women are talking about? They're talking about jobs, and they're talking about the legacy of debt that we're leaving our children."

• On Rosen's comments this morning (SEE BELOW): "Maybe I haven't struggled as much financially as some people have, but I can tell you, I've had struggles in my life. I would love to have people understand that Mitt and I have compassion for people that are struggling. That's why we're running. We care about the people that are struggling."

On Rosen's comments that he doesn't treat women equally: "That does bother me. That is not correct at all. ... He has so many women in his circle. ... Mitt Romney is a person that admires women and listens to them, and I am grateful that he listens to me."

Meanwhile, Hilary Rosen was on CNN this morning, refusing to back down from her comments. She repeated that she was not trying to insult Ann Romney, saying that "being a mom is the hardest job in the world." And she tried to shift the subject to Mitt Romney's policies on women — to little avail.

"Mitt Romney has brought his wife into this conversation. It's not about Ann Romney. This is about the waitress in a diner someplace in Nevada who has two kids, whose daycare funding is being cut off because of the Romney-Ryan budget, and she doesn't know what to do. This isn't about whether Ann Romney or I or other women of some means can afford to make a choice to stay home and raise kids.

"Most women in America — let's face it — don't have that choice. They have to be working moms and home moms. And that's the piece that I am not hearing from the Romney camp."

The Republican National Committee also got involved, blasting out an email to supporters and press early Thursday morning. It called on the Democratic National Committee and President Obama to denounce Rosen's comments. Here's the statement, from RNC Press Secretary Kirsten Kukowski:

"Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz should immediately apologize for the insulting and insensitive comments of her adviser, Hilary Rosen. To suggest that any mother has 'never worked a day in her life,' is an affront to mothers everywhere. Democrats continue to attack Republicans for a 'war on women' even as they attack women with devastating economic policies and offensive rhetoric. The hypocrisy is appalling."